HC Deb 21 July 1976 vol 915 cc1782-4
10. Mr. Gourlay

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is aware of the number of redundancies due at RDL North Sea Ltd., Methil, in the next few months; and what steps he intends to take to preserve employment prospects in this community.

Mr. Gregor MacKenzie

Yes, Sir. My hon. Friend will be aware of the various measures that the Government have taken to ease the unemployment situation in Scotland as a whole, and these will bring benefits to areas like Methil. The full range of Government financial assistance for industry and employment is available in Fife and my officials are mindful of the need to encourage industrial development there.

Mr. Gourlay

Is the Minister aware that Methil already has a high rate of unemployment, has suffered tremendously as a result of the Michael pit disaster, and if RDL should close will suffer once again? Is he further aware that RDL has diversified successfully, with a first-class labour force, and is busier than ever, but that once immediate orders are finished, and unless there is a further platform order, grave redundancies will occur? Therefore, will he press his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy to use every possible avenue to press the oil companies to place platform orders much sooner than is at present anticipated?

Mr. MacKenzie

With my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department of Energy, I met my hon. Friend and other Fife Members of Parliament to talk about this matter. It was clear from that meeting that my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department of Energy, is making every effort, as did his predecessor, to find orders for platforms.

Mr. Younger

Does the Minister recall the advice of the former Secretary of Sate for Scotland—the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Ross)—that if the unemployment figure in Scotland exceeded 100,000 the Secretary of State should resign? As the figure has now reached 160,000, does the present Secretary of State think that that was good or bad advice?

Mr. MacKenzie

I do not see what that supplementary question has to do with the subject of RDL at Methil.

Mr. William Hamilton

Does my hon. Friend agree that for purely technological reasons an order for a production platform is fairly remote? In those circumstances, will he encourage the firm to see the Minister—this has not yet happened, so far as I know—to consider the prospect of increased diversification of Norh Sea orders in inland yards?

Mr. MacKenzie

I shall pass my hon. Friend's comments to the Department of Energy. Later this week I am meeting my hon. Friend the Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton) and others to talk about the problem of unemployment in Fife—a subject that is of great concern to us all.

Mr. Welsh

Will the Minister examine the problem of unemployment in small Scottish communities? Is he aware that in the borough of Arbroath there is an unemployment rate of 9.8 per cent.? What chance do school leavers or anybody else have when faced with high unemployment on the whole of Tayside? When will something be done about the situation?

Mr. MacKenzie

I thought that the Question was confined to the situation Methil.